


The Concept of Survival

by BetteNoire



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-13 20:08:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9140311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetteNoire/pseuds/BetteNoire
Summary: Mai Jiao. A girl who has lost her memory of everything but her name. She recalls small things - how to breathe, eat, sleep, her name - but everything else is gone.Now she's being trusted into a game. A game she doesn't want to play. What is this game?The First Killing Game.





	1. Prologue I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING - Mentions of attempted suicide. Please do not read if you are triggered by that.

_**WELCOME TO THE GAME**_

* * *

 

Those four words effulgently glare on the monitor in front of her. It's a sickly green colour and the font the person used is ugly.

She cringed in disgust. Yet unfortunately the room she is in is dark. The only light she sees is the monitor. Everything else is pitch black. She tries calling out for help.

Nobody came.

She yells until her voice is hoarse. Until her throats hurts and feels like its begging her to stop. Stop her struggling. Wet tears run down her face as she sinks to the floor, burying her face in her arms to avoid the screen in anyway possible.

"well well well!"

Someone's voice finally calls in response. They open their mouth to say something but they find silence. Their mouth can't sing its regal tune. They've screamed themselves hoarse when they need their voice most.

"isn't this a shocker?"

"you! the great hope for humanity falling to their knees in front of me?"

Their voice manages to scrape some words out.

"I-I don't ... know w-w-what you ... mean ..." She wheezes out. Even after managing to squeeze all that out, she still has to cough. If she could see better than she knew there would be blood splattered against her palm.

"oh, whopsies! silly old me. I forgot to tell you what this game is."

"G-game?" Another cough. It feels like she's hacking up her guts at this point with every breath.

"yes, a game! the first killing game to be specific! 11 participants split into two groups all joined together to find and betray the traitor. you wanna know the best part?"

The voice gets closer and closer before she can actually see the cold gleam of grey robotic eyes. Flares of blue and purple spark in their eyes but she can barely tell.

Footsteps come closer and closer before stopping in front of her.

She's dropped onto her knees at this point. Her eyes drift up from the floor to meet the most detailed eyes they had seen up close. If she could have screamed they would.

"you'll have a front-row seat, my dear!"

* * *

 

Mai's brown eyes flicker open. It was only a dream. Just a dream. But what had been the dream? She was already forgetting...

Quickly adjusting her glasses, she pushes herself off the bed she woke up on. It's a regal one with a royal blue cover with marigold stripes. The pillows appeared to be fluffed and beautiful before the storm that was her came in. Now the pillows were calloused and wrinkled while the duvet was lying in a crinkled heap at the end of the bed.

"Whoops..." she mumbles, scanning her surroundings.

It's a small room with a tall ceiling. Even if she stood on the dresser provided it's clear she wouldn't be able to reach the ceiling. Speaking of it, she's certain she's never seen such a fancy dresser before in person. Or anything of the sort to be perfectly honest.

Racking her brain for a solution, she kneels on the carpet before laying down completely. Turning her head to make sure no one is nearby she starts to speak. It's a nervous habit of hers to speak to herself, however, she can't do it without the reassurance that no one can hear.

"So then. What am I doing here?" A pause.

"Dunno. You tell me. I don't really have much more of a clue than you do consider we're the same person. This is going nowhere. Next question. Who am I?"

She has to pause again to think. Who was she? Well, she knew how to speak, breathe and blink, so she was human. She'd done all those things many times. A living breathing being. If she tried hard enough she remembered glimpses of her past. 

She remembered slipping something around her neck.

She remembered kicking the stool from beneath her feet.

And then she remembered nothing.

With more racking inside her brain she received two things. One of those things was a name - Mai Jiao. Most likely it was her own. If not then whose? She didn't know. So her name was Mai. That was one question done and answered.

The other thing wasn't even related to her questions. It was just static.

It managed to shock her enough to get off the floor. As she stood up, she straightened her white jumper. It wasn't completely white as the middle part was a rainbow. Very helpful in avoiding washing it every time she got stuff on it.

The static seemed to be coming from a speaker embedded in the wall. It was shaped like a horn and if she had to guess, inside was a little speaker. The horn was amplifying the static to all four corners of the cramped room.

After a few moments, the static formed into an androgynous voice. Though due to the low pitch the voice spoke in, she assumed it was a male speaking. But what did she know? A female could have had such a low voice. As she pondered the gender behind the voice, the voice began to talk.

"Greetings Group J. You are going to play a game. It isn't my game but it will be fun for me. For you, however..." The voice cackled with malice and hate. 

"I'm afraid you all won't survive this game."

Mai's heart stopped. So did her brain. What was going on here? Who was this voice and what was this game? She didn't want to play it off it involved death!

"Why? It's just a part of the rules. However, the amount of casualties may not just be at one."

It paused and Mai could almost see the grin spreading on their face.

"Group J. There are 6 participants in your group. Find a way out of the room you are in. A bathroom, a bedroom, a kitchen or even a medical room. You are stuck in that room. I will not let you out. You need to escape that room within an hour. During that hour you should realise that the room you are in is equipped with a bomb. It will not go off until the hour is up. You will not survive the explosion. That is all. Your time starts now."

In the distance, a clock chimed. With each chime, Mai's heart skipped a beat. Her mind was racing and focusing on anything but the time. 

She was trapped within in the room. If she couldn't find the way out of the room within an hour, she would explode.

"Just my luck isn't it?" Mai muttered. "Someone has trapped me and 6 others in rooms. We all have the same predicament if we don't do what we need to do."

Gently, she laid her head back down on the rug. Her hands fumbled for something, anything, to play with. All the while her mind was filled with the same sentence:

* * *

 

**_SEEK A WAY OUT_ **


	2. Prologue II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think anyone reads this. :/ I'm going to start posting on fictionpress after the next two chapters when the prologue kinda finishes up. This took so long ;-; I think I spent over a month in this chapter.

Seek a way out... Mai didn't even know where to begin. She twirled her fingers on a piece of the carpet. It's a pretty one, she notices. It feels familiar but she can't place it.

It's coloured with royal blue and marigold, just like the duvet. Pulling out the piece she had grasped, she began to dig her fingers through the small piece. Soon enough the rug piece had been reduced to shreds. With a sigh, Mai stood up before crouching on the wood surrounding the carpet.

  
"Maybe something's hidden under it..." she mumbles as she rolls up the fluffy fabric. Underneath it was something alright. A crumbled piece of paper and a red key. Picking up the red key, she examined it carefully.

  
"Hmmm... What am I supposed to do with you? Wait..."

A few gears turn in her head before she functions a small plan. She almost can see the light bulb on top of her head.

"Yeah, that's probably it!"

Hastily, she shoves the key into her jumpers pocket. As she shoves it in, her fingers brush against something. It was a miracle she didn't scream. The material isn't cold but the shock of something being in there is surprising. A wrinkling feeling it gives her suggests it's a piece of paper. Curious to see what the paper reveals, she made sure that the key was safe before pulling it out.

As she suspected, it was a piece of paper. It was a long and thin strip, only about 2 by 10 cm thick. Turning it over in her hands, only one side had four numbers on it. Or rather it was four roman numerals. Roman numerals weren't really her strong point but it was clear that they were indeed roman numerals.

**V VII II IX**

"V, VII, II and IX..." Mumbling under her breath she begins to pace around the room. The four numbers were most likely meant for a password of some sort. But what for? She didn't have a clue. "What the fuck would... these things be useful for?"

For the time being, she decides to just stuff the paper back into her pocket. What would it be useful for at the time being? Before moving on though she picks up the crumpled piece of paper and shoves it into her pocket as well.

Scanning her eyes across the room, her eyes land on the drawer. It has three drawers with two small ones on the top. She decides to open the smaller ones, to begin with.

Placing her hand on the knob of the left one, she pulls. It doesn't budge. Pulling a bit harder, she tries again and it still doesn't open but the knob came straight off. It's shaped like a normal shaped knob from the front but on the back is a keyhole. Sticking out of the keyhole is another key. However, unlike the first key, it was yellow.

She turns it around in her palm before stuffing it in her pocket again. "What's with all these keys and the lack of locks?" The answer she responds with mentally was nothing. She honestly didn't have a clue. For all she knew, she would find a rainbow of keys and only need lone. Then she turns to the right drawer. She pulls on it and surprisingly it opens.

Inside is it was a briefcase. It was a small one with a yellow lock attached to it. She pulls out the yellow key and stares back and forth at it and the lock. 

"I suppose this goes in here then." 

Stating the obvious, she held the key in her right hand and the key in her left. Inserting the key in the hole and turning it, she doesn't know whether to be surprised at the clicking sound.

The briefcase's lid snapped open revealing a piece of paper and a blue key. The paper was similar to the one with the Roman numerals only it was a little longer and had more text. It read the following:

_**oh** What **a** Dilema!_

_Two Choices Lie Before **you**_

_The Blood **and** The Tears **in** Colour_

_Which **one** Leads To **escape**?_

_**you** Have **only one** Guess_

_Have Fun! ♫_

_- **uni**  ✮_

 “God lord the grammar in this is terrible!” She yelled. 

Then she noticed. All the words that start with vowels are bold and underlined. All the words that start with consonants are normal and start with a capital letter. So basically it wasn't bad grammar - it was just a way of writing.

"Well that was stupid of me... But who the flip is uni?" 

Mai stayed still for a moment or two pondering the question. But she eventually gave up. It wasn't worth her precious time of escape. She could ponder it when she got out! Whoever Uni was could be a goddamm ghost for what she knew.

Stuffing the paper and the key into her pocket, she put the briefcase back in the drawer and closed it.

Then she crouches on the floor to focus on the bottom drawer. It was the largest out of all of them, she notes as it takes up as much space as the two above. Or at least she thinks it does.

Pullibg on the knob, the drawer refuses to open. She pulls on it harder and it still refuses to open. She feels like she could do something to make it open but the memory disappears before she can do anything with it.

Turning her head to scan the room, she began to walk towards the bed - the only thing she hadn't investigated.

When she reached it she did the first thing she could think of - slam her head into the duvet and call it a night. She was tired and the duvet looked so comfy. Then she shock her head.

That wasn't the best thing to to she told herself. She had to... that was odd. She couldn't remember. Something important had happened earlier and it had slipped out of her memory.

With a shrug she slammed her head into the pillow and immediately regretted it. It felt like there was an iron block underneath the pillow and seeing as she had slammed her head into it the pain was to be expected. But it still hurt.

"Fuck..." Lifting up the pillow, she was surprised to see that instead of an iron block there was a red briefcase. Picking it up, she fiddled with the lock. It was locked. Putting the case back down on the bed, she shoved her hands in her pockets. 

Letting her hands wander she feels around for something, anything. Her fingers brush past something and she pulls it out. It was a crumpled piece of paper. She vaguely remembered seeing something crumpled earlier but none of the specifics. With a shrug, she smoothed it out and began to read.

It was small piece of paper with only one word on it:

**JUNE**

It read June in all capitals. It confused her. What was the importance of June? It was a month. She had a friend who was born on June. Why was it written on the paper? She had no idea so she just shoved it back into her pocket. 

Then she let her fingers wander around the endless space that was her sweater pocket. She grabbed the nearest thing and pulled it out. This time it was a blue  key. Letting her eyes connect the two things she put the blue key next to the briefcase.

With a quick motion, she also pulled out a red key. Where it came from had slipped from her memory but it was needed to unock the briefcase. She put it down on the bed.

Then she ducked her head underneath the bed. If there was a blue key there was a blue briefcase as well. Sure enough there was a blue briefcase underneath it. Pulling it out, she dumped it onto the bed.

Now she had a blue key and briefcase and a red key and briefcase. With all of them infront of her she...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Used the red key to unlock the red briefcase  
> 2) Used the blue key to unlock the blue briefcase  
> 3) Carried on searching the room


	3. Prologue III A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I really want to explore the bad endings in more detail later on. Two more chapters till fiction press! :D

_Now she had a blue key and briefcase and a red key and briefcase. With all of them infront of her she..._

put the red key in the red briefcase. It made a clicking noise and bounced open. Had it worked? Then she saw the contents of the breifcase.

It was empty - almost empty. Inside was a mixtape and... She felt tempted to snap the case shut. Throw it under the bed, under the pillow, inside one of the drawers. Where ever she had found it. 

Inside with the mixtape was a gun.

It wasn't a fancy gun. She guessed it was one of the more fancy guns - a glock probabaly. She could vaguely remember reading about popular types of guns and glocks stood out. 

She decided to just pick up the mixtape instead. With a vague idea of how to work it, she managed to get it to work with a lot of fumbling and button pressing. There was a lot of static that felt familiar.

Then a voice began to speak. 

 "Is this working? Oh em gee it is! Well hello! Nya nya nya! My names Tri! Is it short for Tricia? Trixie? Who knows desu!"

At this point the grating weeb was  making her feel like crushing the mixtape. But then she wouldn't be able to listen to the rest of it. Maybe it had a clue to get out?

"My kawaii self offed them in the most sugoi way I could!"

Nevermind that she wanted to smash it as soon as possible! It felt like someone was fearing her brain and replacing it with glitter. Actually she felt like that had already happened. Maybe that was the cause of her amnesia. Glitter and sprinkles. She laughed. 

That was stupid.

"But enough about meeee! Let's talk about the tamagoto you got yourself into! Oh em gee you are so totally okasa reta!"

Then the person stopped talking. Mai had the time to release a sigh of release in the breath pause. She was almost willing to welcome full amnesia. 

"If your hearing this sugoi message desu then your kawaii self messed up!"

At those lines Mai's mind went blank. Had she messed up? What had gone wrong! 

"Hmmm. I wish I had the baka ability of clairvoyance! Then I could see the super duper zetsubo on your face right now! Ahh!" The person sighed frantically. "Your face must be so kawaii right now!"

Mais face was frozen in shock and fear. How could that be called cute? (And how did she translate weeb speech? Did she really read so much weeb that it was considered important enough to remember? If so she was severely disappointed.

Or was it because kawaii was one of the simplest Japanese words to memorise? She had an okay idea, but more important things were at sake.

"Anyway I'm getting of the point! You have okasa reta'd so you're gonna die! Oh noes! So we, the subarashīdesu and kireina sugoi people behind this left you some choices! As you've probably discovered the first one where you found me then the other is to just wait for your time limit! Isn't this fun! Sayōn-"

The message cut of. She thought that it had glitched out and stopped but then she looked at her hand. The mixtape had been crushed in her hand like a grape. Her hand was shaking, trembling so vividly. She touched her face.

Wet hot tears slid down it. She almost choked on her own tears as she laughed. 

It was a crazy laugh. All mentality had slipped away with the tears. As the tears descended like a great waterfall she reached for the gun.

"I-I don't f-fe-feel like wa-waiting do I-I?" Mai stuttered as she fiddled with the gun. She'd laid it against her temple. With one last look at the door...

 _she pulled the **trigger**._ Her **brains** were the first thing they found when they investigated the room later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bad Ending 1 - The Blood and Tears - You chose the wrong breifcase and committed suicide.


	5. Prologue III C

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kinda skipping a chapter to make all the bad endings before the true ending. :/

_Now she had a blue key and briefcase and a red key and briefcase. With all of them infront of her she..._

did nothing. She barely had any of the evidence gathered didn't she? So she decided to instead try and find some more information before jumping into a reckless plan. 

It was kinda smart in hindsight. The keys and briefcases were only part of an entire trap set up by who knows how diablolical masterminds. So finding more things could build up the puzzle and let it all fall into place.

The only problem? She had a time limit. 

If she had more time then she could've conducted a through search of the bedroom. Uncovered all the monsters under the bed. Unlocked the bottom drawer perhaps. 

Or maybe she would've found the exact same things she found with the time limit.

Mai went back over to the drawer and instead of looking at the drawers she focused her attention on the top of it. Nothing special really. Just an alarm clock and a notepad. 

She went through the alarm clock first. It showcased the time 19:52. Was it really that late? She didn't feel tired. After staring st it for over a minute the time didn't change. She scratched at it and found that the time was a stick on. So she peeled it off.

Underneath was the actual clock display. None of the number appeared except for a creepy smiley face. Mai crudely stuck the fake time back on. It was a little to creepy for her likening. 

Then she focused her attention on the notepad. It had a cute cover with pandas, koalas, pastel colours and unicorns. Where a name might have gone was scrawled out in black sharpie - judging by the smell. 

She moved to flip it open to find that the first page was stuck to the cover. 

"How pecuiliar..." she wondered out loud to herself. Her attempts to unstick it were in vain so she it like that and flipped to the next page. It was a diary. 

She skimmed over the paragraph. It was written from loud bubbly girls perspective with her and her brothers adventures to an aquarium. Some parts were ripped clean of and some were scribed out, but she got the basic ghist of it.

Which was barely any.

_Dear Diary,_

_I think I'm gonna name you Desireé! Why? Because it's a cute name! I used to (The rest of the paragraph was ripped out.)_

_Today we went to an aquarium! ~~ **Name**~~ wasn't very happy with it. God he's such a fussy pants! That reminds me of when we (Again the paragraph was ripped out except for a small section that was scribed out except for one sentence) She said her name was Tri._

_We saw lots of fish and ~~ **word**~~! They were really scary but ~~**name**~~ dealt with them. (The next sentence was also scribbled out.) ~~**Name's**~~ super cool! _

And then Mai noticed that the rest of the diary was ripped out. Even the from bit. She was a little disappointed. She would've liked a name to the sister. Or the brother. A lot of the names were crossed out actually. Except for that one name.

Tri. What did that stand for? And why did it feel so familiar? Mai flipped over to the next page. It was a doodle of a man talking into a microphone. He had tentacles sprouting out of his face and arms. Mai saw a third eye on his forehead but then saw it blink.

"The fuck?" She mumbled. It didn't blink again. It stared at her.

She flipped the page. The rest was just random doodles of cats, dogs and people. Along with notes. Some where school notes with things to remember and homework. Other things were Notes with scores for games the person played with friends.

Mai closed the notepad. The first two pages were intresrig but the rest seemed out of place. To orderly and neat.

She put  it back on the dresser before hearing a clock chime. 

And then it all came flooding back to her.

"Oh no..."

Then she heard the ticking.

"Oh fuck! Fuck fuck fuck!"

Wirh a sprint she ran over to the door. She banged on it with her fists as hard as she could.

She opened her mouth and yelled.  "Help me! Help! Those motherfucking bitches locked me in here! Help!" 

She screamed those words until she went hoarse. It didn't take long. No one had heard her. Her language got worse and worse until she was just screaming whatever vulgar things popped into her head.

Turds, shit heads, assholes, that one villain from that lion movie from Disney who was such an asshole he ruined my fucking childhood, motherfuckers, bitches and other rude things.

But nobody came.

Hot tears slid down her cheeks as she melted against the door. She slid down the door with her back to it. She didn't want to see it.

Her glasses came into contact with the floor. She decided to remove them. She wouldn't need them where she was going.

As she waiting she could see a faint gas creeping up from the bottom drawer. She smiles. Poison gas. As if the bomb wouldn't finish her.

With the final ticks, Mai Jiao whispered her final words crumbled against the door. 

"I want my memories back... I want to know what happened to me. Please god if you're out there... I'll forgive you for this if you let me know." 

Her corpse blocked the door when the others came in. They had to force the door open resulting in her head falling straight of her head.

One of them screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda rushed through this chapter as I wrote in about an hour. Please let me know of all the mistakes you find ASAP!

**Author's Note:**

> THIS CHAPTER IS OPEN FOR EDITING AND IS NOT SET IN STONE.
> 
> Please notify me of any errors and spelling or grammar mistakes. I will fix them as soon as possible.


End file.
